Analysis

Details: Written by Jomo Kwame Sundram; Created: 18 May 2013

In early 2012, outgoing World Bank President Robert Zoellick announced that the Millennium Development Goal of halving the global poverty rate relative to its 1990 level had been achieved in 2010 – five years ahead of schedule.

However, many analysts have challenged estimates that rely on the World Bank’s current poverty line, raised in 2008 from $1 to $1.25 per day, in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.

Details: Written by Ann Hollingshead; Created: 18 May 2013

The solutions to problems are often implicit in the way they are framed. If I tell you my car won’t start, you might tell me to consult a mechanic. If, on the other hand, I tell you I can’t find my keys, well, we have a completely different problem. In public policy, frames can often conflate symptoms with causes, other times, such as with the example I gave, they just obscure a possible solution.

But frames turn out to be fundamentally important to the problems’ solutions. As Albert Einstein once said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first fifty-five minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”

Details: Written by Sven Giegold; Created: 15 May 2013

EU finance ministers failed once again to agree on ending loopholes in the EU savings directive, under which Luxembourg and Austria are exempted from provisions on automatic information exchange, due to continued opposition from those two countries. The Greens hit out at the continued obstruction by Luxembourg and Austria to this key measure aimed at ensuring banking transparency, with a view to tackling tax avoidance.

Details: Written by EJ Fagan / GFI; Created: 07 May 2013

“Imagine an African continent, where leaders use mineral wealth wisely to fund better health, education, energy, and infrastructure too. Africa, our continent has oil, gas, platinum, diamonds, cobalt, copper, and more. If we use these resources wisely, they will improve the lives of millions of Africans. If we don’t, they can fuel corruption, conflict, and social instability. Transparency and accountability are key. The US and Europe are demanding new transparency from companies who work in Africa. We must also take responsibility. Our governments may have become more open. Big businesses may have improved their ways of working.

But we — Africans –must do so much more. This issue is too big for the politicians and big business to manage without the involvement of civil society. I’m Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the Africa Progress Panel. Work with me to demand more transparency from Africa’s national leaders and foreign investors. What are they doing? How much is it worth? And how will the money be spent? Because this is our continent, our minerals, our children’s and grandchildren’s future.”

Details: Written by Z Net; Created: 01 May 2013

Despite assurances by financial elites that austerity economics is a prescription to improve the lives of the masses, research contained in a newly published book shows that the push for steep cuts in wages, social programs, and public health programs is literally killing people throughout Europe and the US.

The book—titled The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills, written by David Stuckler, an Oxford University political economist, and Sanjay Basu, an epidemiologist at Stanford University—uses historical case studies from around the globe and throughout history to show "how government policy becomes a matter of life and death" during deep or prolonged financial crises.

Read more: Austerity 'kills people'

Details: Written by INAM AHMED AND SYED ASHFAQUL HAQUE; Created: 01 May 2013

Shaheena is finally out of the building, but not alive. Rescuers on Sunday made a frantic effort to pull out Shaheena from the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza. She was alive then. The operation had to be suspended after a fire broke out at the site that day. Her death came as a great shock to everyone at the disaster site yesterday.

“Low prices. Every Day. On everything” — Wal-Mart’s new slogan replaces the old one in circulation since 2007 — “Save money. Live better”.

Both show the sad face of garment business. They also reveal the crux of the problem: when you want to go cheap, your operation will go cheap too.

Details: Written by Mark Doyle / BBC; Created: 29 April 2013

Africans are helping themselves more than aid workers are, according to new research.

Analysis of cash flows by Hong Kong-based Ghanaian academic Adams Bodomo shows that Africans living outside the continent send more money home to their families than is sent by traditional Western aid donors in what is called Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Details: Written by Matt Taibi - Rolling Stone; Created: 29 April 2013

(From 'Other News' - Roberto Savio)

The Illuminati were amateurs. The second huge financial scandal of the year reveals the real international conspiracy: There's no price the big banks can't fix

Conspiracy theorists of the world, believers in the hidden hands of the Rothschilds and the Masons and the Illuminati, we skeptics owe you an apology. You were right. The players may be a little different, but your basic premise is correct: The world is a rigged game. We found this out in recent months, when a series of related corruption stories spilled out of the financial sector, suggesting the world's largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything.

Details: Written by EJ Fagan /GFI; Created: 29 April 2013

Research from Niels Johannesen of the University of Copenhagen and Gabriel Zucman of the Paris School of Economics looks at the result of international agreements taken to prevent tax evasion in the wake of the global financial crisis. The results are not very encouraging for reformers:

Details: Written by Ramesh Jaura/IDN; Created: 26 April 2013

Does globalisation promote development? If you scratch beneath the surface, the answer of OECD researchers to this crucial question in times of financial collapse and its atrocious consequences for the vulnerable sections of people around the world is: globalisation helps the rich get richer and the poor poorer.